"For these wild wolves, the intense, heavy aura we are actively emitting can make them experience a primal sense of fear and dread on a deep, physiological level. Naturally, the moment they process that gap in power, they choose to run away."
After Hong Meiling finished her casual explanation, Flandre blinked her big ruby eyes, digesting the information with a curious head tilt. "Wow... it can even work like that?!"
Hong Meiling smiled warmly, nodding her head. "Of course it can. Actually, little Flandre, you possess infinitely more raw power than I do; if you wanted to, you could easily project your own aura to achieve the exact same result."
Flandre tilted her head to the side for a brief moment, considering the option, before wrinkling her nose and expressing that such a detailed method sounded like far too much mental trouble. For her personal tastes, if wild beasts were actively causing a nuisance, it would be infinitely better to just completely crush them with a single strike and be completely done with the matter once and for all.
Hong Meiling's sweeping shockwave of 'Qi' hadn't merely dispersed that single predatory pack of infected wolves; its intense spiritual residue had also successfully driven away almost every single form of wild life within a two-mile radius of the clearing. Because of this absolute quiet, everyone in the party enjoyed a wonderful, peaceful night's sleep inside the tents, remaining completely undisturbed by the typical nocturnal noises of the frontier.
The next morning, the exact moment Flandre crawled lazily out of the tent flap into the crisp dawn air, she walked straight over to a nearby flat clearing and immediately began moving her arms and legs in rhythmic synchronization.
"One, two, three, four; two, two, three, four..."
The sharp, repetitive rhythmic counting quickly woke Remilia up. Rubbing her eyes with a slight groan, she poked her head out of her own tent flap to see what the commotion was about.
"Flandre, what on earth are you doing out there so early?"
"Doing my daily flexibility exercises... wait, no... I mean, my official morning exercises!" Flandre called back proudly, wiggling her bottom left and right in perfect synchronization with her counts.
"Hahaha! Oh my goodness, the specific way you are performing those movements looks absolutely, utterly ugly!" Remilia was so thoroughly amused first thing in the morning that she practically teared up from laughing so hard, leaning against the tent pole for support.
"What do you mean ugly?! This is an incredibly special, super secret technique I personally learned." Flandre argued her point with a cute pout, stomping her foot. "Back when I first formally joined the Reunion Movement's ranks, I used to lead all the Infected soldiers in doing this exact routine together every single morning!"
"Alright, alright! Your specialized morning exercises are undeniably very impressive!" Remilia caved, laughing merrily as she crawled all the way out of the tent to stretch her own wings.
By this time, every other member of the traveling party had also gotten up and packed away their bedding. Sakuya Izayoi was already stationed near the cold campfire, gracefully preparing a hot, fresh breakfast for them using portable utensils. By the exact time Flandre proudly completed the final set of her morning routine, the food was just about perfectly ready to be served.
After finishing their nourishing breakfast and thoroughly erasing all traces of their campsite, the group of six took to the skies once more, continuing their steady journey directly toward the west.
"We have officially crossed over into Victoria's borders by now, haven't we?" After flying at a steady cruising altitude for a while, Remilia asked with a note of growing doubt, looking down at the landscape.
Hearing her question, Patchouli Knowledge looked up at the positioning of the sun and checked the ambient magical currents to confirm their precise direction. "Our heading is completely correct. If the physical map of Terra isn't fundamentally wrong either, we indeed should have already successfully entered Victoria's official territory an hour ago."
"But in my personal memory of the geographical texts, shouldn't the grand nation of Victoria be completely defined by massive steam engines, roaring industry, and towering mobile cities?" Remilia gestured toward the endless landscape below, her brow furrowing. "Look closely at our surroundings. What absolute difference is there between this wilderness and that godforsaken, primitive wasteland back in the northern territories of Ursus?"
Remilia glanced around with deep skepticism; as far as her eyes could see, it was still a dense, uninterrupted, ancient forest with almost zero visible traces of modern industrialization or civilized architecture.
"Perhaps this specific border sector functions as their designated national greenbelt area?" Patchouli offered, though even she didn't believe a single word of her own explanation the moment it left her mouth.
After all, Patchouli had meticulously familiarized herself with the geopolitical history of Terra. For all the sovereign nations occupying Terra's northern hemisphere, there was one particular bordering empire that was universally considered extremely dangerous, unpredictable, and aggressive—Ursus. Almost every single country sharing a direct physical land border with Ursus permanently stationed one or more of their most powerful, elite standing armies along their northern frontiers, remaining constantly, intensely vigilant of Ursus's every military maneuver.
After all, that massive northern empire didn't care a single bit for international ethics or diplomatic treaties, frequently declaring total war without a single day of prior notice, and possessing immense, brutal martial prowess. To the proud nobles and military commanders of Ursus, expanding imperial territory was considered a matter of supreme personal glory and immortal military merit. This cultural mindset had naturally given rise to a massive faction of extreme, reckless militarists within their government.
Under these exact historical circumstances, what could possibly be Victoria's true strategic intention in failing to station heavily fortified defensive garrisons in this northern sector, choosing instead to maintain a primitive, overgrown forest as their primary buffer zone with Ursus? A simple, unfortified primeval forest certainly couldn't stop Ursus's overwhelming military might or their crushing iron Landships if an invasion occurred.
Fortunately, after flying a bit further westward over the canopy, a distinct break in the trees finally revealed a long, winding road cutting through the landscape. The group descended gracefully from the air, landing lightly by the side of the incredibly muddy, uneven thoroughfare.
"Tsk, this wretched dirt road is honestly even worse than the primitive beast paths crisscrossing the mountain ridges back home in Gensokyo," Remilia complained, crossing her arms with a look of pure aristocratic disdain as she looked at the deep ruts.
Patchouli, however, wasn't surprised by the poor infrastructure in the slightest and calmly began to explain the logistical reality of the world to her friend.
In the harsh world of Terra, building and maintaining permanent, paved highways between cities was a matter of extreme luck and infinite, astronomical financial cost. After all, absolutely no one could ever accurately predict when or where a devastating natural Catastrophe would suddenly manifest during the active construction phase. Even if a nation were incredibly lucky enough to fully complete a beautiful highway, there was absolutely no long-term guarantee that a Catastrophe wouldn't suddenly occur directly along that specific route the very next week, completely erasing all their hard work.
Therefore, to strictly control national expenditures and drastically improve overall construction efficiency, these kinds of simple dirt roads became the standard, undisputed choice for intercity transportation in almost every major country on the continent. A province merely needed to pack the foundational roadbed, clear away the thickest surface debris, and keep it relatively level using local labor. If a specific section of the road was completely destroyed by a sudden Catastrophe or an outbreak of war, the local traffic could easily be rerouted around the impact zone in real-time without wasting massive amounts of state money or precious construction materials. This was a logical choice that the people of Terra were forced to make out of sheer historical necessity.
It was currently the seasonal transition between late spring and early summer, a time of abundant, heavy rainfall across the midlands, and it had recently poured over this entire region. Consequently, the unpaved ground before them was incredibly muddy, sticky, and slippery.
Remilia gave the wet mud a couple of intensely disgusted looks, adjusted her shoes, and immediately decided it was infinitely better to return to the air. She truly could not bring herself to take a single physical step into that filthy, squelching ground. The entire group unfolded their wings once more, smoothly flying back up into the clear air to continue their steady heading due west.
"The specific region we are traversing right now should be called Nasr, which formally belongs to the personal territory and jurisdiction of Grand Duke Wellington of Victoria," Patchouli explained calmly as she glided through the air, sharing her notes with everyone present. "However, according to the imperial records, Grand Duke Wellington is considered one of the absolute top-tier, most powerful military experts and political powerhouses in all of Victoria. It is quite a curiosity how his personal territory can appear so..."
"So completely weak, abandoned, and impoverished?" Remilia filled in the blank, looking down at the lack of towns.
"Patchy, you seriously know so many amazing things!" Flandre flew over to her side, her eyes wide with a face full of pure, unadulterated admiration for the librarian's endless knowledge.
"What exactly do you think I have been diligently reading stacks of books for every single day inside?" Patchouli asked with a soft, pleased smile, reaching out to gently pinch the tip of Flandre's nose. "It is precisely so I can understand the underlying laws and structures of this world as quickly as possible for our people."
"There seem to be human figures moving around not far away from us over there. Should we actively descend to make formal contact and gather information?" Remilia asked, pointing her finger toward a faint clearing to the south.
"My professional suggestion is to absolutely not do so," Patchouli advised rationally. "From the surrounding environment, it is completely clear that the socioeconomic situation in this border sector isn't like the grand, cosmopolitan Victoria we imagined before; instead, it is extremely isolated and neglected by the core empire. People living in this kind of harsh, forgotten frontier environment usually possess an incredibly high degree of instinctual vigilance toward outsiders because they haven't had open contact with the civilized world for a long time—they are bound to be extremely xenophobic. We only intended to pass through this region peacefully. Once we get tied up in local border disputes or peasant panics, it will just become a massive, unnecessary hassle."
Seeing Patchouli present such a logical, well-reasoned piece of academic advice, Remilia didn't insist on descending. After all, the primary reason she always brought Patchouli along on these long-distance journeys was that as a dedicated scholar, Patchy was not only infinitely knowledgeable about geography, but her mind could always provide rational, level-headed suggestions to balance the family's impulses.
Since they didn't harbor any intention of meeting those frontier inhabitants, Remilia and the others intentionally altered their flight path, bypassing the settlements directly. They maintained their steady aerial cruise, not fully flying out of the massive forest belt until the evening sun began to dip below the horizon.
"Look over there! Is that the place we are supposed to be going?"
The exceptionally sharp-eyed gatekeeper, Hong Meiling, suddenly pointed toward the far western horizon. Looking through the thin clouds, the group could faintly see a majestic, towering stretch of jagged mountain ranges rising sharply into the clouds toward the southwest.
Following the precise direction of her finger, the travelers could indeed vaguely discern the massive, snow-capped peaks glittering like diamonds under the twilight sky.
"To be completely capable of clearly seeing those peaks from such an immense distance away, it must undoubtedly be our final destination," Remilia remarked, suspending herself in place and crossing her arms with a satisfied smile.
"Let's go!"
The group now accelerated, cleanly leaving the boundary of the forest belt behind as they entered a vast, open plain. The ground below was no longer muddy or overgrown like the forest paths, so the six of them smoothly descended from the air, landing softly on a well-maintained road.
They had chosen to land at this specific junction because their eyes had just spotted a cozy, compact little town nestled right beside the plains nearby. Plumes of grey smoke rose lazily from the various residential chimneys, and numerous figures could be seen moving about the streets; it was highly apparent that a large, stable population lived there. Moreover, the vast fields extending outside the town limits were entirely filled with neatly cultivated farmland, making the entire settlement look incredibly lively, prosperous, and peaceful.
Because of this welcoming sight, the six travelers dusted off their sportswear and prepared to walk inside to take a closer look.